I already have a mate
by AnadoraBlack
Summary: [Mild Mistress of Evil spoilers] After Aurora and Phillip's wedding, Maleficent leaves with the Dark Fae to help them rebuild their home and their lives. She just doesn't understand exactly how much of herself she's leaving behind... [Maleval: Diaval/Maleficent]


_A/N: Hello people! Here is another one-shot I wrote for these two idiots that I feel like we haven't seen enough in Mistress of Evil. Here's to wishing they finally admit that they're basically married. ;)_

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**_Disclaimer: I do not own Maleficent or any of its characters. I only own the plot of this oneshot, written solely for entertainment purposes._**

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_**I already have a mate**_

* * *

All was well in the Moors after Aurora's wedding to Phillip. The fairies, pixies and other creatures mourned their dead, tended to the tomb hill, regrowing its flowers before celebrating the good news that was their Queen's union.

Aurora was seen often in her kingdom, wandering barefoot with her equally shoeless husband, talking this and that, enjoying the sun and the brisk water of the stream.

Diaval saw her each time she came. He welcomed her – and Phillip, when he accompanied her – on the river bank, a smile on his lips and a hug all ready for the girl he still considered his. She never missed an occasion to tell him how dashing he looked or how important the staff he now held made him. He smiled, but somehow, it wasn't as genuine as usual.

Maleficent spent more time than ever with the Dark Fae. She'd gone with them right after giving Aurora away, leaving the Moors in Diaval's care – complete with the staff that enabled him to change form at will – and she spent about half her time in the Fae's sanctuary in the middle of the sea.

Aurora had first rejoiced that her godmother had found her people, that she wasn't alone in the world anymore. Then, she had started complaining about seeing her less and less. And after a few months, she was rather displeased that Maleficent seemed to consider her company less important than that of people she had known for five minutes and not raised into adulthood, thank you very much.

Her dear bird-man also seemed to feel rather gloomy in his mistress' absence. His smiles were less and less joyful, Aurora saw it in the way the corner of his dark eyes didn't crinkle; and he appeared more lost in thought than ever.

"She's going to come back, isn't she?" asked Aurora one evening when they sat, alone, feet buried in moss, appraising the stars.

Diaval reached for his girl's hand, and sighed. "She would never miss your nameday, Aurora."

The Queen smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.

* * *

On the other side of the map, though, Maleficent wasn't feeling much better than the rest of her family.

Sure, she had agreed to come back and forth between the Sanctuary and her Moors, to help the Dark Fae rebuild their world and teach them a few of her tricks. But she hadn't expected the weight of the task that they'd put upon her shoulders, to lead them as their Queen.

She was the Phoenix reincarnate. They'd all seen it, or almost all, and had called upon that fact and their reverence towards the Fae's ancestor species to ask her to lead them. She'd said she'd think about it, but had had little choice in the matter.

She hadn't told Aurora, or Diaval, about that fact. She couldn't bear to tell them that, one day, she would, maybe, be asked to leave their side forever and to spend the rest of her existence with her people. It was a testament to how much she'd grown that she actually _was_ scared to hurt their feelings. And hers, at the same time.

She spent most of her days inspecting the nests, teaching young ones how to fly and how to properly preen their feathers – something she had grown particularly meticulous about, no doubt thanks to Diaval's influence. Sometimes, she was called by the elders who held hands with her to try and connect with the raw force of the phoenix.

But that night, thankfully, she was alone.

* * *

Alone on top of the highest tree, doing what she most appreciated back in the Moors: looking at the stars.

It was then that she noticed the Moon and its placement. She softly cursed. Aurora's birthday was the following day. And she had promised Borra to help with the solstice preparations.

She hissed and let herself fall from her perch, letting the air carry her towards the desert plains and the nest of one angry-looking Fae.

"Borra," she called, not minding to wake anyone else: the night was young, and Dark Fae liked to stay up late.

He got up swiftly, a grunt greeting her as always. His gaze had gotten more insistent lately, and Maleficent avoided it like the plague, not willing to understand what it meant.

"I need to go tomorrow. And the day after. It's important."

"_The_ _solstice_ is important," he countered in a drawl. "Or have you forgotten that?"

"I haven't," she almost hissed back, fangs baring a bit. "However, there are enough people here to prepare the feast while I am away."

"Is this about that human of yours?"

Her eyes snapped to his, angrily taking a tinge of green. "_My daughter_, you mean. Yes, it is about her." She took flight, not willing to give him any information he did not deserve about her or her family. "I shall be back the night after next." And she left.

If he was offended by her antics, she did not care one bit.

* * *

"_Mother!_" Aurora all but flew to Maleficent's side, launching herself at her as Phillip and Diaval watched on, fond smiles on their faces.

"Hello, Beastie. Happy birthday." The Fae's smile was filled with affection, as was the tender caress of one finger on the Queen's cheek.

Aurora beamed, reaching for Maleficent's free hand. "I am so _glad_ you have come! I have missed you! We _all_ have!"

Diaval flushed a bit when his mistress' keen eyes fell on him, but rather than add to his turmoil, she felt magnanimous, and turned her teasing to Phillip instead, thus accepting him fully into this strange family of theirs. "Even you, Phillip?"

"As strange as it may sound, yes, even me, my Lady."

She arched a brow, a smirk sliding in place. "_My Lady._ That is something I have not been called often. I like it. Diaval, why have you never called me that?"

The poor raven-man stuttered, too overcome with joy upon seeing her. However, when his wits returned, he answered almost without difficulty "Because you preferred 'Mistress', I believe." Phillip snorted at that, earning himself a curious glance from the other three.

"Come, now, Beastie, let's celebrate this name day the way we are supposed to." Maleficent took Aurora's hand, and pulled her towards the largest clearing of the forest, where most gatherings happened.

Her heart swelled in her chest, for she was home.

* * *

After Aurora's 22nd birthday, though, Maleficent didn't return to the Moors even once. For months on end, the Dark Fae kept her on edge. The Jungle folk had a feud with the Forest folk, invoking a problem with borders. The Tundra folk had a problem with food that needed her magical help. An outbreak of a strange fever forced her to keep to her nest for several days, hoping that no one would be lost to it.

For weeks, she longed for home. For her perch on the cliff, overseeing all her kingdom, overseeing Aurora's chambers in Ulstead, even. For weeks she missed her Beastie, her daughter.

But after months… Well, after months, the memory of home was a fond memory, but no longer one that hurt when she thought of it. She would sometimes dream of the creek, of her little Beastie's padding feet on wet stone, but when she woke, she no longer felt the burning need to take flight and go back.

After a while, she even started to consider _the Sanctuary_ her home.

And so…and so, Maleficent missed Aurora's 23rd birthday. Not even the Moon warned her, that time. And when she realised she'd missed it, she felt sorrow for about a day before another urgent thing took up most of her attention.

* * *

One summer, as the youngsters left her teachings to go back to their parents, Maleficent found herself accosted by Borra.

They'd spent more time together those past months. He acted as a sort of right-hand-man, even if the intensity of his gaze told of other things he'd rather be, she was certain of it. Even if she avoided that thought systematically, for protection.

She now knew that the sandy-haired Fae was, more than opinionated and stubborn, a good person, loyal to a fault, smart, cunning, charismatic, just and fair. Even if he still was very susceptible and quite impulsive.

"Maleficent, I have something to ask you," was his greeting that time.

She hummed while tidying the vines she'd used for that day's lesson. "It is about Kaylee shedding her feathers again? I've said I'd look into it." Kaylee was a Desert Fae, thus under Borra's jurisdiction. So to speak.

"Not, it's not about that." He waited until she turned to him, and pursed his lips. "Maleficent, you've lived here for quite a while, now. I think you've enjoyed it, too."

"I have," she agreed, "despite the bad days."

He ignored that statement and carried on. "I think it's time you joined yourself to one of us. And I think it'd be a good thing if you accepted _me_ as your mate."

Maleficent fully turned towards him, golden eyes wide, wings fluttering behind her. "_Pardon?_"

"You will _have to_ choose a mate soon enough," he stressed, almost aggressive now, she noticed.

"And _you_ would want to be my mate." She didn't need him to answer, but the feeling of her guts twisting in her stomach was all she needed to give him hers right away. "I decline."

Borra took a pace forward. "_What?_"

"I said I decline."

"And what reason do you have for declining? It is about _that human_ again?"

Maleficent's eyes glowed green all of a sudden, as it always did when someone disrespected her daughter. "If you say something of _that_ sort again, you will be _very_ sorry." The growl birthing in her throat didn't faze him, though. Instead, he smirked.

"Then it's about _that bird_. The one you fancied into a man."

Maleficent's brow furrowed. "_Diaval?_ What are you on about?" But while Borra launched himself into a heated argument about, apparently, the way she acted around her oldest friend – for he was – she started wondering herself.

_Diaval?_ Could it be that all that time…?

She pictured her dear bird in her mind. As a raven, he was more than a familiar. He was a companion, one she'd appreciated to fly beside, back when…she'd been there. As a man, he was a true friend, someone she trusted intimately. Someone she'd trusted with her land, with her their daughter. With her heart?

Said heart constricted as she realised that she hadn't seen Aurora or Diaval in _more than a year_, and that she had spared them little thought before that day. That she hadn't was unforgivable, but even more now, with the knowledge that she might have lost more than just friends in the bargain.

She'd always thought that love was a weakness, before her Beastie. But now that she knew the sheer force of her love for her child, would it be too far-fetched to imagine she held such tender feelings for her pretty bird?

"I already have a mate," she muttered, cutting Borra's argument short.

"What?"

She raised her eyes to his, no longer scared of what she saw in his gaze. "I gratefully decline your proposal, for I already have a mate."

Borra growled, fully angered now. He ruffled his feathers, as if ready for a fight. She'd seen him like that before, when they'd gone against Queen Ingrith's army. "Our species is in danger of extinction, Maleficent! You cannot be _selfish_ _enough_ to link yourself to someone who will not perpetuate our people!"

With a glow of green, she pushed him away, far enough that she could take flight. "I already have a child. Her name is _Aurora_, and I have been away from her for far too long already. As for Diaval, he may not be a Fae, but he is whom I choose."

Borra eyed her angrily, eyes glowing dangerously, but he could not refuse. After all, he'd been the first to call her his Queen, some months prior.

So Maleficent bowed the head, and took flight, ready, at last, to go back to her family.

She'd figure things out later…

* * *

The Moors were quiet. Too quiet to Diaval's taste, anyway. He flew over the trees, checking that everything was in order before he went to his nest to sleep.

As a raven, his mind was sharper, more focused on the now than when he was human. When he needed legs and arms and a tongue to speak, his thoughts were often muddled with _feelings_. And, lately, he'd come to not enjoy feelings.

With a tilt of the head, he noticed that Aurora's light was off at the castle. Even from afar, he would have seen the flicker of the flame. She was sleeping peacefully. The babe hadn't decided to come yet. Had he been a man, he'd have sighed in relief.

Suddenly, a great wave of wind almost shook him off his path, and a great shadow loomed over the trees. Diaval looked as a tall silhouette lowered to the mossy ground, and he narrowed his eyes, starting his descent as he wondered who would disturb their peace so late at night.

He was surprised, shocked even, to realise it was his mistress. No, not anymore, for he hadn't laid eyes on Maleficent for quite some time by then. She no longer owned him, he'd decided after a long and frankly embarrassing discussion with his little girl.

But she was _there_, standing tall and lovely in a gown woven in black and golden, her hair flowing down as her eyes fleeted from left to right as if in search of something. Or someone.

He flew down, cawing so as to let her know he was there, and a small smile appeared on her lips even as she uttered "Into a man". He grunted as he fell to the ground, limbs stretching in that familiar way he'd known for years.

It always took him a couple of seconds to gather his surroundings when he turned, but even more then, when the object of his almost every thought was finally standing close after so long. He started "_Malef-_" but before he could finish, something unfathomable happened.

Maleficent stepped forward, close, far closer than she'd ever allowed, gently took his face in her hands, and lowered her lips to his.

* * *

Diaval was no idiot. After literally _years_ of seeing his fledgling kiss her husband, he knew what a kiss was. He also knew what it _meant_. But, for the life of him, he couldn't fathom why _Maleficent_ of all people had decided that she wanted to kiss _him_!

Eyes open, he watched as she smiled into her kiss before pulling away, taking her scent and lovely warmth away.

He stuttered. "Wha-what…?"

"Diaval, will you be my mate?" she asked, again not letting him finish whatever he'd wanted to say. Not that it mattered now that she'd said _that_.

Her eyes were lovely, and inquisitive, almost shy, he'd even say, if the thought wasn't preposterous when concerning her. She'd never been shy in her life!

His silence must have unsettled her, because her expression closed off after a moment, and she said "Oh, I see" before looking like she was about to take flight any second.

"_Maleficent,_" he stopped her in a breath. She met his eyes again, and his heart missed a beat. "Why _me_? Why not-?" He didn't carry on, didn't need to: she'd understand what he'd meant_. Why not one of the Dark Fae?_

Her gaze softened, and she got closer again. "Because, my dear, I have considered living without you, and it's quite honestly impossible. Boring, tasteless, and lonely."

He chuckled, almost cawed, and then, a bashful look settled upon his face. He reached for her hand, and asked, quiet as the breeze, "Would you mind…kissing me again?"

She laughed then, the sound lovely as she was, and she indulged him with a "My dearest, vain bird" that shook him to the core.

Who cared that she hadn't been there for a year? Who cared that their daughter was about to give birth and she wouldn't have been there? _Who cared?_

He was her mate, and she was kissing him, _that's_ what mattered.

They'd figure things out later.


End file.
